– A closer look at crime and safety in Palm Beach County.

Boca police: Spilled meatballs in Mini Cooper lead to arrest

A 42-year-old Boca Raton man shouted gay slurs at a neighbor holding a meatball dinner before hitting the man with his car. The food spilled into the car, and the stains would later lead to his arrest, city police said.

Corey Adam Schwartz yelled “Are you gay?” and “What the (expletive) is wrong with you?” before he hit the neighbor with his Mini Cooper on Friday evening, police said.

The neighbor was carrying a takeout box of meatballs across the street at The Bocar condominium complex for his wife, and the food spilled onto the Mini Cooper’s windshield and inside the car after the crash, the arrest report said.

The neighbor also tore off a windshield wiper trying to get his balance after being forced onto the hood of the car.

Angered, Schwartz got out of the car and tackled the man, then placed him in a headlock. The neighbor blacked out at one point, police say.

He fled to the guardhouse of the gated complex, on Clint Moore Road just west of Jog Road, and called the police.

Officers tracked down Schwartz by checking the logs at the gate. They knocked on his door, but he didn’t emerge for 20 minutes, police say.